YES, THEY ARE ALL MINE

It never fails! At least once a week someone will approach me and count the number of children I have with me in and around the grocery cart. I smile and say hello, knowing exactly what question is coming next: Are they all yours? Not understanding the true intent of this question, I have resigned to taking it as a compliment. So I smile and politely reply with a standard answer- Yes! This is almost always followed by the question: How do you do it with four children........and so close in age? After numerous variations, I now have a standard reply: They are all really great children and a blessing to parent.

I mean how do you answer those questions? Of course they are all mine. Just take a look - you cannot miss the resemblance! I don't ever think about "how I do it" each day as a mom, it's just second nature to me. Of course we are all made differently and that is not the case for each woman. But to me, having four is really not much different than having two and in many aspects it makes things easier. For example, when the older children are at school, I often think it is easier to run
errands...grocery shopping, post office, library, etc. The reality (which will sound insane to some!) is that many times it is easier to run errands with all four. Bottle Rocket and Smoke Bomb are quite helpful with the younger ones and help keep them entertained while we are out. When I have just two, they almost seem bored and cranky!

I know large families are not the "norm" in today's society. Sometimes the things people say are hilarious. There is a lady in the school carpool line who asks me at least every other month if they are all mine when she opens the door for Bottle Rocket. It is tempting to tell her that I just enjoy carrying the neighborhood kids to carpool each day! Her consistent pondering makes me wonder if she thinks I will change my answer one day?! On the other hand, it is a treat to have someone around my grandmothers age stop and chat with me. They delightfully share how it was raising four children of their own. These sweet souls have taught me more than they will ever know. I have learned tips and advice for raising a large family from such people. Most importantly they advise me to enjoy EACH moment- fun, good, hard, bad, sad, joyful, heartbreaking, momentous and minute. Each moment makes life worth living!

I am not saying a big family is easy- it takes a lot of dedication, patience, determination and energy to raise 4 kids. I believe it was God's will for my husband and I to have a large family. I couldn't imagine our family without four children. Having four might seem overwhelming to some, but it feels natural to us (most of the time!). Of course there are pros and cons to small and large families, but we think bigger works well for us! As a family of six we are a team. Each "player" has their own "position" and we all work to live, laugh, love and learn together. Not to mention my husband's delight that we are just 3 short of a full baseball team!

Today I ran across an article online that talks about how bigger families just might be easier. The article is written by Matthew Archbold for the National Catholic Register. He describes this notion to a "t" and it all rings true to our experience although we are not Catholic. Click on the link above to read this highly amusing take on large families- it will sure bring a laugh to your day!

PS: Don't worry Mom, we have stopped at 4!